Kintzel v. Kleeman

166 F. Supp. 3d 523, 2016 WL 695136, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20158
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 19, 2016
DocketNo. 3:13cv163
StatusPublished

This text of 166 F. Supp. 3d 523 (Kintzel v. Kleeman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kintzel v. Kleeman, 166 F. Supp. 3d 523, 2016 WL 695136, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20158 (M.D. Pa. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JUDGE JAMES M. MUNLEY, United States District Court

Before the court for disposition are Defendant Stephen Kleemaris motions in li-mine filed in advance of the pretrial conference. The motions have been briefed and are ripe for disposition.

Background

On April 7, 2010, Defendant Stephen Kleeman, a Pennsylvania Sate Trooper, (hereinafter “defendant”) charged Plaintiff Faith Kintzel (hereinafter “plaintiff’) with summary harassment. (Doc. 1, Compl. ¶ 1). A hearing was held on June 2, 2010, at which both plaintiff and defendant appeared. (Id. ¶ 9). They agreed to a deal where the charges would be dismissed if plaintiff complied with certain conditions for sixty (60) days. (Id.)

After the hearing, the defendant asked plaintiff if she would have coffee with him sometime. (Id. ¶ 12). She indicated that she did not want to. (Id.) Defendant then asked plaintiff to accompany him to a cemetery where they could talk privately. (Id.) She agreed to accompany the defendant and alleges that she did so out of fear that the deal she worked out on the dismissal of the criminal charge would fall through if she refused. (Id.) Plaintiff alleges that upon meeting at the cemetery, defendant had sexual contact/intercourse with her against her will. (Id. ¶¶ 13, 27). Plaintiff then filed the instant case, which asserts state law claims and civil rights claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

The complaint originally asserted the following six counts: Count I-False Arrest; Count II-False Imprisonment; Count Ill-Excessive Use of Force; Count IV-Violation of Substantive Due Process Right to Bodily Integrity; Count V-Sexual Assault and Battery; and Count VI-Loss of Consortium on behalf of Stephen Kleeman. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In disposing of the motion to dismiss, we dismissed Counts.I, Count II — to the extent that it asserted a federal civil rights claim, and Count VI. We also dismissed the defendant in his official capacity.

The parties have engaged in discovery and neither party filed a motion for summary judgment. Thus, the court scheduled a pretrial conference. Prior to the pretrial conference, and in accordance with the court’s rule, defendant filed nine motions in limine. The motions are now ripe for disposition.

Jurisdiction

Plaintiff sues under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a violation of her civil rights. Accordingly, we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (“The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.”). We have supplemental jurisdiction over the plaintiffs state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367.

Discussion

We will discuss defendant’s nine motions separately.

1) Defendant’s motion in limine to preclude irrelevant testimony of Trooper Kleeman’s family and friends

During discovery, plaintiff has identified the following witnesses: Bronwen Whalen, Emily Kleeman, Rochelle Rose, Jessica Smith, Regina Kleeman, defendant’s father and Justine Kleeman. (Doc. 114, Def.’s Mot. in Limine ¶ 3). Defendant argues that these witnesses should be precluded from testifying at trial because they have no [525]*525knowledge or evidence relevant to any material facts in this case.

The law provides that relevant evidence is admissible in a trial and irrelevant evidence is not admissible. Fed. R. Evid. 402. “Relevant evidence” is “evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Fed. R. Evid. 401.

Here, plaintiff argues that the testimony of these witnesses is relevant to the extent that the defendant may have discussed the incident with them. Plaintiff, however, has presented no evidence that defendant in fact did discuss this incident with any of them. Thus, plaintiff has not established that these witnesses possess any relevant information. Accordingly, defendant’s motion in limine will be granted with regard to these witnesses. The motion is granted without prejudice to the plaintiff presenting a proffer at the pretrial conference establishing that one or more of these witnesses possesses relevant, admissible evidence.

2) Defendant’s motion in limine to preclude introduction of, or reference to the district attorney’s opinion that a sexual encounter occurred

Next, defendant moves to preclude introduction of, or reference to the district attorney’s opinion that a sexual encounter occurred. Plaintiff does not oppose this motion. (Doc. 140, Pl.’s Brief at 18). Accordingly, it will be granted as unopposed;

3) Defendant’s motion in limine to preclude introduction of, or reference to, the document from the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda at the time of trial

Defendant’s third motion in limine seeks to preclude from evidence a document from the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda. Plaintiff does not oppose this motion. (Doc. 140, Pl.’s Brief at 18). The motion will thus be granted as unopposed.

4)Defendant’s motion in limine to preclude introduction of, or reference to, any discipline received by Trooper Kleeman

In the instant case, the Pennsylvania State Police investigated plaintiffs allegations against defendant. The investigators ultimately concluded that defendant had not sexually assaulted the plaintiff. They did conclude, however, that defendant had not been forthcoming in the investigation. The Pennsylvania State Police, accordingly, disciplined defendant. Defendant now moves to preclude evidence of this discipline from the trial as irrelevant, unduly prejudicial and confusing to the jury.

Plaintiffs response to defendant’s relevancy argument is that the records are not hearsay and are, therefore, admissible. The issue, is not, however, hearsay. The issues are relevancy, prejudice and confusion to the jury. Plaintiff addressed none of these matters.

As noted above, relevant evidence is admissible in a trial and irrelevant evidence is not admissible. Fed. R. Evid. 402. “Relevant evidence” is “evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Fed. R. Evid. 401.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 F. Supp. 3d 523, 2016 WL 695136, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kintzel-v-kleeman-pamd-2016.